UNU Update: Ramesh Thakur speaks out on missile shield

Vice Rector
speaks out
on US
missile
strategy

The core premise behind President George W. Bush's missile defence strategy is correct: the existing architecture of nuclear arms control reflects a Cold War-centred world that is gone forever, according to Ramesh Thakur, UNU Vice Rector and director of the university's Peace and Governance Programme.

In a newspaper article, Thakur contends that the United States today "has no peer. Its nuclear stockpile bears no relation to today's threats. It is a historical dead weight acting as a drag on a sensible defence policy for today's world.

"Mr. Bush actually intends to cut back on his nuclear arsenal. In such circumstances, it would surely be criminally negligent of any president not to authorize a defence system that actually worked and guaranteed the safety of U.S. citizens."

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